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Being Mary Jane Season 4, Episode 5 Recap: Getting Served

Thank goodness, this week we are back in Atlanta with the Patterson family, and all their splendorous messiness.

I would’ve liked to have seen the full aftermath of Niecy’s (Raven Goodwin) BLM moment with the police at the end of last season, instead we’ve seen her collect her settlement money, $150,000, (which seems like a paltry amount) and although initially saying she would shock everyone and save it all for her children, she bought baby daddy Danté a car and seems to be continuing to spend like she’s rich. We catch up with her on a night out with her girls, popping bottles in VIP. After getting into an altercation in the club, Niecy snatches a wig, gets kicked out and provides the hungry crowds with content for their social media.

By morning, she has become a hashtag. Video of her club altercation is all over Twitter punctuated by the phrase #WhyTheBitchGotTased, and of course, an unflattering meme soon follows. Niecy is the Princess of Bad Decisions as we have previously discovered, and her age cannot continue to be an excuse. She is a mother of two and has to be held to that standard at all times. The Patterson’s are sometimes complicit in aiding her destructive behaviour, not allowing her to suffer any consequences for her actions. When unnecessarily responding to some of the racist and disrespectful comments online, Niecy reveals details of her court case and stupidly violates a term of her settlement. Looks like Daddy Danté’s car maybe getting repossessed!

Meanwhile, Niecy’s latest drama inadvertently affects Grandmother Helen’s (Margaret Avery) attempts to restore the Patterson Family name by getting Patrick’s daughter D’Asia (Navia Ziraili Robinson) into an exclusive Jack and Jane organisation for rich children of the elite. “You’re gonna learn our culture, and you’re gonna grow up to be a proud Black woman.” she says to D’Asia who responds with ‘Sounds cool’ Bless. Despite their historic bougie reputation, Helen can’t avoid Niecy’s latest brush with the law. She is met with disapproving looks from the members, even the little girls know all about #WhyTheBitchGotTased, subsequently D’Asia’s membership is denied causing tension between Grandmother & older Granddaughter.

Things continue to go left for Niecy; Daddy Danté has been ignoring her since she bought him the car, she seemed to think he was coming round to being a father and foolishly allowed herself to get involved emotionally and physically, she soon realises that she has been played, and once she’s served with papers saying she has to pay back the entire $150k settlement, has to come clean to her family about exactly where all that money went, they all thought she had put it in trust for her children.

Patrick blows up when he finds out about the car, Niecy does get it back but not before suffering another cruel heartbreak, she spots Dante’s other Baby mother driving it. To add to the injury, she also has a lecture for Niecy about being a single mother with no family to support her. Maybe Niecy can finally see how privileged she is and learn her lesson, forming a sister wife kinship with baby mother 2 may not be the way to go though. Mary Jane seems to have led the way for her little sister to mess up and not be held accountable, always throwing money at a problem, hopefully, in her absence Niecy can finally begin to grow up and start to lose the ‘Bad Decision’ family curse. Surely, she’s learned not to be so gullible after Danté, who needed a car to see his daughter remember, found his ass on bike to get to her house to check on the car.

It’s slightly surprising to see Niecy’s in so much turmoil, especially coming off the back of a life-threatening incident with the police. For most this would’ve been a time to take stock and really start to live with purpose, especially with two young kids to consider. Niecy often called big sis Mary Jane out on her own bullshit, so she clearly has half a brain at least. The situation with Danté was so predictable for her, possibly Mary Jane being so far away made her cling to him for comfort after her experience, but now all this is over she should regain her good sense.

It’s great to see Grandma Helen retrieve her matriarch position, again in the absence of Mary Jane who normally fixes everything for the family. When the leader of the Jack and Jane organisation uses the same classist prejudice Helen prides herself on against D’Asia, referencing this recent scandal plus Patrick’s own drug abuse to deny her membership, Grandma Helen publicly reminds some of the members of their own less than stellar reputations and family mishaps. Shame is a great healer it seems because her actions work, two of the mothers stand up for Helen while revealing their own family secrets, and as a result D’Asia is accepted into this elite club, partly restoring The Patterson Family’s bourgeois status.

While all this drama is happening in Atlanta, Mary Jane is back in NYC spending quality time with little brother PJ (B.J. Britt) mulling over their new lives and trying to make their fathers BBQ sauce to remind them of home, which fails miserably. M.J. reflects on her life; alone, living out of a suitcase in a $1000k a night hotel room surrounded by 8 million people. Creepy Lee is away this episode and not missed to be honest.

I’m very interested to see how P.J.’s relationship with his mentor and her daughter plays out. He persuades Mary Jane to get the spoilt brat an internship at Good Day America and after the interview she steals a bottle of alcohol from an anchor’s office. I predict P.J. being set up and blamed for one of her shenanigans.

So, I guess it’s back to NYC Office drama with Kara, Justin, Rhonda et al next week no doubt. What do you think, do we like this separation of action between the two cities?